Rocket City Half Marathon F70-74: Foresteire Runs Away With It in the Cold

• Nancy Foresteire wins the F70-74 group in 2:34:35 (11:48/mi), finishing nearly 13 minutes clear of second place.
• Terri Carter (2nd, 2:47:33) and Sonya Shepherd (3rd, 2:53:55) were separated by just 6:22 — and Shepherd's second-half split was actually faster among the women's field than Carter's, making up ground over the final 6.8 miles to the finish.
• Lesley Strauss took 4th in 3:05:38, while Vickie Valentine rounded out the five-woman group in 3:38:27.

Five women in their seventies toed the line in Huntsville on a biting 29°F morning — 16 mph winds and freezing temperatures that would test anyone — and Nancy Foresteire answered with the most commanding performance of the group. The 72-year-old from Rockledge, FL crossed in 2:34:35 at an 11:48/mi clip, and her second half told an even better story: she moved up 47 places among the women from the 6.8-mile mark to the finish, posting the 436th-fastest women's split on that closing stretch. She didn't just hold on — she pressed.

Behind her, a genuine battle played out for the podium. Terri Carter of Guntersville, AL came through in 2:47:33 to claim second, but Sonya Shepherd of Gray Court, SC was closing. Shepherd ran the 613th-fastest women's split on the back half — one spot quicker in the field than Carter's 614th — and moved up 28 places among women over that stretch while Carter faded six spots. The gap at the line: 6 minutes and 22 seconds, with Shepherd finishing 3rd in 2:53:55. Different paces, but Shepherd was the one gaining.

Lesley Strauss of Glencoe, IL finished 4th in 3:05:38 (14:10/mi), though her second half saw her drop back among the women's field. Vickie Valentine of Mason, OH completed the group in 3:38:27 — a 16:40/mi pace — and still managed to gain six places among women over the final segment. Five finishers, five women in their seventies, all of them out there racing hard in conditions that would send most people back to bed.